Book Review : The Consequence of High Caliber (Mako Shark #1) by Nicole Castle

Miko is a devoted son. An irresponsible brother. A protective friend. An anonymous lover. An assassin, nicknamed the Mako Shark after the sheer violence of his hits. Miko is deadly. And damaged.

Miko is in love.

”Excerpt”

The server shifted his weight, nervously asking, “Is everything all right, sir?” when it was very much apparent that everything was not all right.

Miko stared unblinkingly at his dinner, seeing dead gray flesh floating in a plate of blood where there was only filet mignon with a side of steamed vegetables. He was trembling, his face pale and glistening with sweat. “I am a vegetarian,” he said quietly, finally turning away from his plate.

“But…you ordered it. Rare, sir. Extra rare.”

Gripping the steak knife in his shaking hand, Miko managed to stammer, “On a separate plate.”

Miko released the knife and draped his napkin over the plate, his stomach turning. The napkin remained bleached white, failing to soak up the inches of gore that were not actually there. He loosened his tie, then pushed the plate away and slowly brought his hand into his coat pocket where he kept his nine millimeter. And his sanity.

The waiter arrived with the check just as Miko slipped a little red candy between his lips, closing his eyes and pressing it against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Spicy, sugared relief flooded his senses and he sighed languidly. “Thank you,” he said. His English was not particularly clear even without having his mouth full, but Miko did not care whether the waiter understood him. Or if he understood what his error could have cost them both.

The server shifted his weight, nervously asking, “Is everything all right, sir?” when it was very much apparent that everything was not all right.

Miko stared unblinkingly at his dinner, seeing dead gray flesh floating in a plate of blood where there was only filet mignon with a side of steamed vegetables. He was trembling, his face pale and glistening with sweat. “I am a vegetarian,” he said quietly, finally turning away from his plate.

“But…you ordered it. Rare, sir. Extra rare.”

Gripping the steak knife in his shaking hand, Miko managed to stammer, “On a separate plate.”

Miko released the knife and draped his napkin over the plate, his stomach turning. The napkin remained bleached white, failing to soak up the inches of gore that were not actually there. He loosened his tie, then pushed the plate away and slowly brought his hand into his coat pocket where he kept his nine millimeter. And his sanity.

The waiter arrived with the check just as Miko slipped a little red candy between his lips, closing his eyes and pressing it against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Spicy, sugared relief flooded his senses and he sighed languidly. “Thank you,” he said. His English was not particularly clear even without having his mouth full, but Miko did not care whether the waiter understood him. Or if he understood what his error could have cost them both.

A Sneak Peek Into The Story :

Miko just finished his job for the night. His client has requested that it be a clean kill, but knowing Miko – nicknamed the Mako Shark – he has a reputation for his kills turning into bloodbaths. While his reputation has been intentional, his messy kills aren’t. A hit called for basic strangling, the target turns out to be hemophiliac and blood would just gush out from a single tear; Miko’s job was supposed to simply trip a man off the catwalk at a factory, yet the man somehow ended up in an industrial sized mixer and was chopped into hundreds of pieces.

His target tonight, was to die from a single shot to the head, but instead it ended up as a car accident. Followed by three men having their throats slit alongside Miko’s target. Miko has the reputation of his kills always turning messy, but even then, he always wears an immaculately pressed suit on his jobs. Dressing in appropriate funeral attire for the occasion, he said.

Now that he has gone down from the adrenaline high of his kill, all Miko wants to do is sleep. But, he can’t sleep alone. Since the day his life changes, he requires confinement to sleep, or else he will not be able to sleep at all. Miko has slept under his bed until he was too big to squeeze under. That was when he discovered, the comfort could also be found in someone else.

Miko came upon his bisexuality completely by chance. He followed what he thought was a woman with an extremely large biceps to the club, wanting to have her arms around him. Only to realize that she was not a woman after all. And after a sexual experience with a drag queen that Miko didn’t realize was possible, he slept better that night than he has slept in years. And since then, Miko only sought the company of men.

Tonight is no different. Miko is tired, and all he wants to do is to get some rest – even though he would not mind some sex beforehand. But to do that, he needs a man to go home with. That is when he slides up the bar next to a tall and slim man. The man’s physique is not what Miko would usually go for, but he was exhausted and beggars can’t be choosers.

When the man notices Miko beside him, he introduces himself as Toby before buying them both a red colored drink. Just like the candy Miko has been sucking vigorously on, Toby said. Miko was surprised to know that the man has been paying attention on him for some time. Even more shocked that he did not picked up on it. And when their eyes meet, Miko knows this time will be different.

“Miko hesitated at the end of the letter, then held his breath and quickly wrote

I met someone he cooked for me waffles.”

Review:

This is my first time reading Nicole Castle’s work, and I must say, I enjoyed it. I have read a lot of stories about assassins or contract killers, and almost all of the books I read, the main characters are mainly mysterious and dark and broody. In most of the books that I have read, the characters might be an assassin, but they still live and think and function just like people normally do. But in this book, while Miko is portrayed as a scary and menacing killer, his personality could not be farther from that.

He might just be, hands down, one of the sweetest and adorable contract killer I have ever read to date. Even though this man kills like it’s nobody’s business, in reality, Miko is squeamish when it comes to blood. Outside of his work, he cannot stand the thought of blood. He has a lot of quirks and habits that – even though it may come off as odd at first – the more you get to know his character and his story, the more you’ll find it adorable. Not to mention sometimes when he gets his English wrong, or doesn’t understand a certain word. Or when he tries to talk dirty to Toby in such a straightforward way. There are many instances that shows just how innocent and pure he is as a character that it just makes it hard to not love him.

“Shall I send a check?” “Can you wire? I have his account number. I want to surprise him.” She laughed again. “Miko, you don’t surprise people with a hundred thousand dollars wired into their accounts.” “No?”

As for Toby, I love him. I think his character works really well with Miko. At first I was kind of worried that Toby will not interact well with Miko, or he would try to push Miko out of his own comfort zone and would end up getting killed. But I am happy that that is not the case at all. Toby actually took by surprise with how he just take it all by stride and doesn’t seem to ask for more than Miko is willing to give.

Even from the first time they meet, Toby is so trusting and open to Miko as if they aren’t strangers at all. Some might call that naive – heck, even I might call Toby naive – but I don’t know, after knowing more about his struggles and his past, I am actually glad that he retains that good part of himself. Rather than let the world change and harden him.

This book is relatively short. It is only a little bit shy from 200 pages, so this is a quick and breezy read. Although, there might be some scenes that might be a little bit hard to swallow if you are squatting and are not really into all the gore and killing and blood. Other than that, I actually wish for this book to be a little longer. Just so that the readers can develop a deeper emotional connection to the characters and truly see Toby and Miko grow alongside the plot.

Because after finishing this book, even though I enjoyed it, it feels more like I just watched a movie where I root for the characters, but it wouldn’t really bother me too much when bad things happen to them. When what I want is for these characters to be ingrained in me so deeply that I feel their sorrows and joys and pain with them, and wish with everything inside me that they be happy. Because when I read a book, while the plot and writing is important, I must say I still value the emotional connection I have with the characters more. So emotional wise, this book is kind of a miss.

Other than all of the above that I have mentioned, this book is highly entertaining. If you are looking for a short and engaging read that is filled with action and a sprinkle of romance, definitely check this book out.

“Given enough time, a person could come to terms with anything. This was what Miko believed. Some things took mere minutes. Some took years. Certain things he had yet to come to terms with but Miko knew that those too would cease to affect him someday. Until then he clung to them, governed by them through every aspect of his life. And this he intended to cling to for a very long time.”

Great review, this is actually the first time I heard about this book and it looks and sounds great and very intriguing. I am really curious too check it out myself and see if I like it or not. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post and putting this book on my radar.